Gimbal Production & Manufacturing Engineer

WORK LOCATION: Huntsville, AL

FLSA STATUS: Exempt

SALARY RANGE: The anticipated salary range for this role is $88,000 to $113,000 annually. This range reflects a good faith estimate based on the targeted level for the role and typical compensation benchmarks across U.S. locations. Actual compensation may vary depending on the selected candidate’s qualifications, experience, geographical location, and internal alignment.

Redwire Defense Tech is expanding its gimbal production capacity. As we scale the Octopus ISR gimbal production capabilities — we are building a production environment focused on continuing to maintain a high level of quality, and system-level integration.

We are seeking a Gimbal Production and Manufacturing Engineer to play a foundational role in standing up this new production capacity. This position blends hands on engineering, process development, and cross functional collaboration to ensure our gimbal systems are built with the precision, reliability, and performance required for global ISR missions.

• Define tooling, fixtures, calibration equipment, and test stations required for gimbal assembly and alignment.
• Support layout planning for the manufacturing area, including material flow, ESD safe work spaces and environmental controls.
• Translate existing production workflows into a new facility, ensuring consistency, repeatability and compliance with established quality standards.
• Create detailed work instructions, assembly guides, torque specifications, and inspection criteria.
• Lead equipment qualification, including installation, validation, and operator training.
• Oversee precision assembly of optical, mechanical and electronic subsystems.
• Develop alignment procedures for EO/IR sensors, IMUs and stabilization axis to meet line of sight accuracy and jitter performance requirements.
• Implement best practices for handling sensitive optical components and ruggedized payload housings.
• Work closely with Systems & Test Engineering to ensure production tests correlate with field performance.
• Support root-cause analysis and corrective actions for production defects or performance deviations.
• Drive design for manufacture and design for assembly improvements in collaboration with design teams.
• Implement lean manufacturing principles to reduce cycle time, improve yield and enhance reliability.
• Support configuration management, revision control, and traceability of components and assemblies.
• Partner with supply chain teams to qualify vendors for components.
• Work with quality and integration teams to ensure seamless transition from prototype to production of integration components.
• Provide technical support to field teams and customers as needed.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics or related field.
• 2-4 years of progressive experience in aircraft or UAS payload system design, integration or support.
• Hands on experience in manufacturing or production engineering for electromechanical or optical systems.
• Familiarity with stabilized gimbal systems, EO/IR sensors, or ISR payloads.
• Experience with creating work instructions, test procedures and process documentation.
• Familiarity with UAV payload integration, avionics interfaces or embedded systems.

• Experience standing up new production lines or transferring manufacturing processes between facilities.
• Experience with Lean, Six Sigma or similar continuous improvement methodologies.
• Familiarity with UAV Payload Integration or avionics interfaces.
• Experience with ruggedized or aerospace-grade manufacturing environments.
• Knowledge of defense ISR mission requirements and CONOPS.

• Matching 401(k)
• Paid PTO
• Paid holidays
• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Group Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• HSA and FSA Options
• Critical Care Plan
• Accident Care Plan

This position may require access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations ("ITAR") and/or the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR"). To comply with the requirements of the ITAR…